Boosting Proposals Is Now Limited

[celgins]

I'm seeing a lot of freelancers who can no longer boost their proposals. On 26 January 2024, Upwork made a change:

See the announcement here: Boosted Proposals Are Now Limited to Eligible Freelancers

My guess is, Upwork's matching algorithm determines your eligibility to boost by analyzing your profile, JSS, skills and other data, and matching those with specific job criteria. The reason I'm guessing is because I'm not finding a full explanation for how this works.

[ArjayM]

Hi Amritansh,

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention. Please be aware that all Boosted Proposal auctions run for up to seven days or until the client makes their first hire. If the auction is closed but the job is still open, then the boost option will not be available.

Also, some jobs may not be available for boosting as eligibility to boost is determined based on how good of a match you are to the job and client requirements. You can still submit a proposal regularly. 

Learn more about boosted proposals by visiting this help article.

[688ca65c]

Hi Arjay
Thanks for the reply, but I feel there is some issue.
Yesterday after I posted the requrest, after sometime I was able to boost proposal. I mean that section was visible.

Today again I am facing that issue.

Regarding relevancy of project, most of my project and bid is i wordpress development.
I am still bidding for wordpress development and boost proposal is not available.

I thnk there is some issue, please check and help.

Thanks

[25ac52fb]

Hello
I am facing the same problem like others. I cannot see the boost option while bidding. i am bidding the relevant  jobs  but since yesterday somehow i can't see boost proposal option on upwork while bidding. 

[rekasesh]

I checked 7 job offers in my specific niche. I can see boost option on 6 of them while one doesn't have it (probably because of hires).

[jossy38]

I think it has been removed by upwork themselves. Finally, competition is now based on proposal alone

[e06bd553]

Hi Joseph,
boosting doesn't work for me either, I decided to take a look at the community about this problem. I came across you, literally your comment is 10 minutes. Am I correct in understanding that this feature is no longer working?

[8db0a0fe]

how?

[rekasesh]

I still see the option to boost on all the relevant jobs I opened, except for ones where there were hires and ones that were posted a week ago.

Maybe, they removed it for new freelancers, ones without JSS or low JSS, or in certain job categories.

[e61326a4]

Hey, I can't boost my proposals, even for jobs that are brand new, so the AI chatbot's response is not helping. I would appreciate if you could connect me with a real person through a ticket, thanks

[JoanneP]

Hi Lefteris,

I am sorry you're experiencing issues contacting support. We're creating a personalized experience to better assist all Upwork platform users via the chatbot. The more you interact with the chatbot, the more custom responses you'll receive.

Here's how you can reach Upwork Support:

1. Please visit Contact Support and click the 'chat with Upwork button'.
2. Type a question or topic and select 'Send'. The bot will find relevant Help articles for you.
3. The chatbot will ask you to confirm if you need additional help. If you confirm that you need additional help, you will be asked to confirm the account type you need help with.
4. From there, the support options available to you will be listed. Select either of the options to be able to contact the Upwork Support Team.

I'd also be happy to assist you here in the community. I want to confirm: are you getting an error when you attempt to boost your proposal? Please share more information about the issue so I can look into this for you. Thanks! 

[e61326a4]

Hey, I would rather if you could resolve it from here, I did what you told me about chatbot but it still gives me no options to contact the Upwork Support Team directly. Anyways, I can send proposals with no problem, but i cannot view biddings and bid myself at all to boost my proposal. Here is a screenshot of how it looks like (It doesn't matter that it's mobile, the same happens on my laptop as well):

 

[AndreaG]

Hi Lefteris,

All Boosted Proposal auctions run for up to seven days or until the client makes their first hire. If the auction is closed but the job is still open, then the boost option will not be available. Also, some jobs may not be available for boosting as eligibility to boost is determined based on how good of a match you are to the job and client requirements. You can still submit a proposal regularly.

[e61326a4]

Hey Andrea, I don't think that is the case, the jobs are brand new and there are no hires. Additionally, thr auction is still open. Also, my friends who specialize in the same category as me can boost their proposal to the job while I can't. Something is wrong if I can't boost 95% of the jobs in the 'recent' and 'best matches' sections. My friends suggested that maybe it's because I haven't verified my ID yet. Is that maybe the case? But I haven't reveived any email about ID verification yet and there is no option for that iny settings.

[rekasesh]

This new announcement could be one of the reasons. Boosted proposals limited to eligible freelancers  

[e61326a4]

Νo because I meet the job criteria more than enough

[celgins]

Upwork's algorithm determines if you are allowed to boost. As Andrea stated and Rekha pointed out with the link, a freelancer's eligibility to boost is determined by an algorithm--not what freelancers think.

[the-right-writer]

As other people have said, it's up to the algorithm. Although you think you are "more than enough" the algorithm doesn't. There are a number of items that determine your eligibility. Apparently, your skills, location, time working, money earned, etc. were "not enough" to allow you to boost.

If, in any way, this reduces the irrelevant and garbage proposals many clients receive, then it will have served a beneficial purpose. When the clients began to receive so many junk proposals, in the hundreds, they fled the platform. When you post a job, and all you find are boosted, useless, horrible proposals, you don't hang around to do it again.

Instead of boosting, you need to do the work. Use the academy link at the top of the page to learn about using the platform and setting up your profile. Currently, all you will find is scams. Not being able to boost for you is a good thing now, because you are not ready to look for jobs.

"Studying under Tai Lopez's Direct Response Copywriter"  is not a skill's title.

... Either way, I'm your man... Here's why! :heavy_check_mark: I studied copywriting for the last 3 months for at least 4 hours a day through mentorships, courses and books :heavy_check_mark: I spent over 500$ on online education to learn from the best names in the copywriting scene

You are not a copywriter. Your brief experience as a student qualifies you as someone who has a brief experience as a student and is working towards a copywriter. You do not have the skills to freelance, according to your profile. I am not being mean, I am telling you the truth. Freelancing requires marketable skills, money to run the business, motivation, patience, and again, marketable skills. You do not have marketable skills.

There are 20 million freelancers and only 800,000 something clients. You are in competition with freelancers and copywriters with years of professional experience.

Your brief experience is not going to get clients, but it will get you scammed. Ask yourself why a client would choose you to write when you don't have the skills? This is why you can't boost. You shouldn't apply for another job until you examine what genuine, real, marketable skills you have. If you don't have any, you don't freelance.

You can ignore my words, or take this as solid information. You are not prepared in any way to freelance. What you do about it, is up to you.

[9affb05a]

Hi Upwork community,

I hope you're well. I'm Muhammad Qasim, and I'm encountering an issue with boosting my proposals. Despite job postings being within 7 days and not already hired, I can't boost.

Could you please assist in resolving this matter?

Thank you, Muhammad Qasim

[LuiggiR]

Hello Muhammad,

I want to clarify that Boosted Proposals are now limited to freelancers meeting the clients' specific job criteria. You can check out this page to learn more. 

[atreglia]

Luiggi,

The post you referenced states that in order to be "eligible" to boost you need to be a "relevant match" based on "specific job criteria".  I have not found that to be true, at all.  Can you please explain what "specific job criteria" your referenced post is referring to?  Also, can you confirm that if the algorithm won't let you boost then you should not apply at all.  Thank you.

[e3758e3e]

Hi Upwork Team, 

I hope you're doing well. I'm Mohammad Bilal, and I've been using Upwork for about a year. I'm having a problem lately – I can't find the option to boost my proposals.

I'm not sure what's going on, and I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at my profile and help me figure this out. Thanks a bunch for your time and assistance. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards, 
Mohammad Bilal

[JoanneP]

Hi Muhammad,

All Boosted Proposal auctions run for up to seven days or until the client makes their first hire. If the auction is closed but the job is still open, then the boost option will not be available. Also, some jobs may not be available for boosting as eligibility to boost is determined based on how good of a match you are to the job and client requirements. You can still submit a proposal regularly.

[65763137]

I recently encountered an issue while submitting any job proposal – I can't use extra bid to boost it. It seems like a technical problem that won't resolve on its own. Could you please help me find a solution to this problem?

[ed87b11d]

please check this post out https://community.upwork.com/t5/Product-Release-Notes/Boosted-Proposals-are-now-limited-to-eligible-...

[0d418bdd]

Hello,

I can't boost when applying.

Actually, I don't see boost option.

Can anyone help me?

Thank you. 

[9affb05a]

Hi

I have just created my profile on upwork and purchased connects for $40, so that I can boost my proposal. But, boost option is not available even on any single job. Whether the job is just posted, 1 day old, no hir, or hire boost option is not available. Someone in community said that, boost will be available when you'll meet client's reuirement.How can upwork decide I can do that job or not??? Atleast, I deserve an opportunity to showcase my skills, in my cover letters

Hope that Upwork will fix this issue

[the-right-writer]

This is another famous Upwork algorithm. I'm beginning to think the reason it's secret is that we would see for ourselves the coding is a mess.

I have tested the program, and it lets me boost for irrelevant jobs, with no keywords, etc. but I can't boost where I hold or exceed every single requirement and wish by the client.

[loveneek]

It's concerning to notice that I'm now able to bid only on proposals from clients who haven't spent any money on Upwork, and we all know the majority of these profiles are potential scammers. Is this really what Upwork's AI thinks will benefit me? Paying to send proposals to clients with suspicious profiles? It's crucial for Upwork to reassess its algorithms to prioritize the safety and success of freelancers.

This bid restriction won't benefit anyone who's just starting out, as Upwork will allow them to bid on just these kinds of clients, which comes with a guarantee of not getting converted. The good clients will be catered to already established freelancers.

[iqbalahsan82]

I am not able to boost my proposals on any of the job posts on my freelancer account for quite some days now.

I am also unable to generate a ticket on the upwork chat as the chat is not prompting me to create a ticket even when I ask it to connect me to a human agent. It just keeps on giving me automated replies containing irrelevant articles again and again. 

[JoanneP]

Hi Ahsan,

All Boosted Proposal auctions run for up to seven days or until the client makes their first hire. If the auction is closed but the job is still open, then the boost option will not be available. Also, some jobs may not be available for boosting as eligibility to boost is determined based on how good of a match you are to the job and client requirements. You can still submit a proposal regularly.

[8db0a0fe]

how to join academy?

[rekasesh]

You will find it in the drop down menu in your community member account. 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Academy/ct-p/Academy

[b336ac37]

##- Boosting is one month one time. I think you should check to earning
cycle. -##

[the-right-writer]

Also, you can use the link at the top of this page.

[b336ac37]

##- Inside your e-mail to sent upwork . click to do it -##

[f5d0bcd6]

Hi! 

I had boosted 2 proposals a few weeks ago, but after that the option to boost my proposal is unavailable. I thought it was only for a few jobs so I applied without boosting but now I see that there is not a single job for which the option to boost my proposal with a bid is available. And no, the client has not made their hire and the jobs have been posted under less than 3-5 hours, so the auctions  for the job have not closed either. All the jobs I'm talking about are in the "best matches" category for me, and there's not a single job which has the option for me to boost proposal for. I've been having this problem for over a week and it still persists. What exactly is the problem here? Can someone please help?

[the-right-writer]

The rules have changed. Clients have been receiving too may irrelevant proposals, clogging the feed, and angering  them. If you had to wade through 100 proposals from people who are not qualified for the job, you would have some empathy.

Freelancers tend to think they are qualified if they have one of the skills or requirements, and that's not appropriate. I am sure, if you look at all of the requirements, you are missing at least one. I can't see anything from the screenshot because it's just the bottom of the page. Read Clark's post at the top of the page. Here is the link again.